Spitfire Ace
{{Short description|1982 video game}}
{{Infobox video game
| title = Spitfire Ace
| image = Spitfire Ace cover.jpg
| caption =
| developer = MicroProse
| publisher = {{vgrelease|NA|MicroProse|EU|U.S. Gold}}
| designer = Sid Meier
| programmer = Atari 8-bit
Sid Meier
Commodore 64
Ron G. Verovsky
IBM PC
R. Donald Awalt
| released = 1982: Atari
1984: C64, IBM PC
| genre = Combat flight simulator
| modes = Single-player
| platforms = Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, IBM PC
}}
Spitfire Ace is a combat flight simulator video game created and published by MicroProse in 1982 shortly after it was founded. It was one of the first video games designed and programmed by Sid Meier, originally developed for Atari 8-bit computers and ported to the Commodore 64 and IBM PC compatibles (as a self-booting disk) in 1984. The game followed on the heel's of Meier's Hellcat Ace, also from 1982 and for the Atari 8-bit computers.
Gameplay
The game puts the player in the pilot's seat during World War II. The player defends London during The Blitz while flying the Supermarine Spitfire.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mobygames.com/game/spitfire-ace|title=Spitfire Ace for Atari 8-bit (1982) - MobyGames|last=|first=|date=|website=MobyGames|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915034205/http://www.mobygames.com/game/spitfire-ace|archive-date=2017-09-15|access-date=2018-07-24}} The game offers 15 different scenarios that include France, Malta and D-Day.
Development
Sid Meier developed Spitfire Ace as a modified version of Hellcat Ace, another game he programmed, released earlier that same year. In his 2020 memoir, Meier described Spitfire Ace as "the kind of game we'd probably call an expansion pack today. It used the same code base as Hellcat Ace, but moved the battle scenarios from the Pacific to the European theater."{{cite book|last=Meier|first=Sid|author-link=Sid Meier|date=2020|title=Sid Meier's Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-1324005872}}
Reception
Softline in 1984 called Spitfire Ace and Hellcat Ace{{'}}s graphics "extremely simple".{{cite news | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1984&pub=6&id=15 | title=Spitfire Ace and Hellcat Ace | work=Softline | date=Jan–Feb 1984 | accessdate=29 July 2014 | author=Bradbury, James | pages=51–52}} Computer Gaming World in 1993 stated that the game "has been severely wrinkled by age".{{cite magazine | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1993&pub=2&id=111 | title=Brooks' Book Of Wargames: 1900-1950, R-Z | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=October 1993 | accessdate=26 March 2016 | author=Brooks, M. Evan | pages=144–148}}
Reviews
References
External links
- {{atarimania|id=4937}}
- {{lemon64 game|id=2423|name=Spitfire Ace}}
Category:Atari 8-bit computer games
Category:Battle of Britain video games
Category:Video games designed by Sid Meier
Category:Video games set in France
Category:World War II flight simulation video games
Category:Video games developed in the United States
Category:Single-player video games
{{computer-game-stub}}